U.S. Rep. Steve King takes to Twitter to respond to Republican, Democratic criticism over his rape, incest comments

While speaking in Urbandale, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, wonders 'would there be any population of the world left' without rape or incest. He made the remarks at the Westside Conservative Club on on Aug. 14, 2019.
Kelsey Kremer, kkremer@dmreg.com

The Kiron Republican replied on Twitter to a number of presidential candidates who criticized his stance on abortion, as well as to challengers for his 4th District seat, Republican state Sen. Randy Feenstra and Democrat J.D. Scholten.

Feenstra had previously said he was "100% pro-life," but called King's comments "bizarre" and damaging to the anti-abortion movement. King replied that Feenstra, from Hull, "favors exceptions for rape and incest," which means he is not fully committed to anti-abortion legislation.

Congressman, with all due respect, I am proud of my long record of actually passing pro-life legislation that has saved lives. Talk is cheap. Conservatives in Iowa and across America including @realdonaldtrump agree that your comments hurt our cause. #IA04https://t.co/3hWz8S1OK1

Feenstra did not say in his Twitter reply whether he supported exemptions for abortion bans. But said that Iowa conservatives as well as President Donald Trump "agree that your comments hurt our cause."

President Donald Trump said he did not know about King's comments, but that it "wasn't a very good statement."

"I don't know the situation with Steve King," Trump said Thursday, according to a CNN reporter. "It looked like — I read a statement that supposedly he made. I haven't been briefed on it. But certainly it wasn't a very good statement."

Scholten, who’s making a second bid to win King’s seat, said in a statement that King is again putting “his selfish, hateful ideology above” the Iowans in the district.

“Excusing violence — in any way — is entirely unacceptable,” Scholten said in the statement. King responded that Scholten's pro-abortion stance is more hateful than anti-abortion legislation, calling the Democrat "the part of infanticide."

King did not respond to requests for comment by the Des Moines Register.

Hey @JulianCastro You think it’s NOT embarrassing when you declare that men can get pregnant and then you promote federal funding to abort men’s babies? Genius! A Democrat proposal that will have a CBO score of ZERO! And a bizarre score of 100!!

He also wrote tweets about four Democratic presidential candidates: former Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Kirsten Gililbrand, and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, all of whom called for King to resign.

King criticized Castro, asking, "you declare that men can get pregnant and then you promote federal funding to abort men's babies?" on Twitter.

In the June Democratic presidential debates hosted by MSNBC, Castro had said "let's also not forget someone in the trans community," referring to men and gender non-conforming people who are still biologically capable of becoming pregnant, when talking about his commitment to preserving access to abortions.

King also said the Des Moines Register and Associated Press misquoted him, saying "#FakeNews strikes again."

#FakeNews strikes again. The Des Moines Register misquoted me. Their misquote was picked up by the AP & others. The DMR & AP did correct the misquote. Here’s the clip that proves my point. The New York Times did the same thing to me but there was no tape. https://t.co/EM9zIkZVrV

The correction addressed language in the quote on his time trying to pass an abortion ban in the U.S. House of Representatives without exceptions for rape and incest. King's quote asking "Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?" if people who were products of rape and incest were not born remained unchanged.

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